A senior Chinese navy official warned the United States to cease “collusion” with Taiwan whereas prime White House aide Jake Sullivan pressured the significance of stability within the tense Strait in a uncommon one-on-one assembly Thursday, either side stated.
Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, the primary US nationwide safety advisor to go to China since 2016, for 3 days of talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and different high-ranking officers.
The go to got here as China grew to become embroiled in safety rows with US allies Japan and the Philippines.
On Thursday morning, Sullivan met with senior Chinese military chief Zhang Youxia on the Beijing headquarters of the Central Military Commission.
“We rarely have the opportunity to have this kind of exchange,” Sullivan informed Zhang in opening remarks.
The two officers agreed to carry a name between the 2 sides’ theatre
commanders “in the near future”, a readout from the White House added.
Sullivan additionally raised the significance of “freedom of navigation” within the
South China Sea, the place Beijing and Manila have clashed in current months, and “stability” within the Taiwan Strait, Washington stated.
Zhang, in flip, warned that the standing of the self-ruled island was “the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations”.
“China has always been committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he stated, in accordance with a readout by Beijing’s defence ministry.
“But ‘Taiwan independence’ and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are incompatible,” he stated.
“China demands that the US halts military collusion with Taiwan, ceases arming Taiwan, and stops spreading false narratives related to Taiwan,” Zhang added.
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– ‘Destabilizing actions’-
Thursday’s talks additionally noticed Sullivan categorical “concerns about (Chinese) support for Russia’s defense industrial base”, the readout added — echoing longstanding US claims that Beijing has rejected.
He additionally raised “the need to avoid miscalculation and escalation in cyberspace, and ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza,” the White House stated.
On Wednesday, Sullivan and Wang mentioned plans for his or her leaders to speak within the coming weeks — and clashed over China’s more and more assertive strategy in disputed maritime areas.
Sullivan “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to defending its Indo-Pacific allies”, the White House stated.
He additionally “expressed concern about (China’s) destabilizing actions against lawful Philippine maritime operations” within the disputed South China Sea, it stated.
Chinese state media reported that Wang issued his personal warning to Washington.
“The United States must not use bilateral treaties as an excuse to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor should it support or condone the Philippines’ actions of infringement,” Wang informed Sullivan, in accordance with state broadcaster CCTV.
Wang and Sullivan beforehand met 5 instances over the previous 12 months and a half
— in Washington, Vienna, Malta, and Bangkok, in addition to alongside US President Joe Biden and Chinese chief Xi Jinping in Woodside, California, in November 2023.
During their newest encounter, additionally they mentioned the tense problem of Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that China claims.
China has stored up its sabre-rattling because the inauguration this 12 months of President Lai Ching-te, whose occasion emphasises Taiwan’s separate id.
AFP